Getting to grips with Instagram

I don't know if it's my age, my 'non-coolness factor' or how 'down I am with the kids' but I find many small business owners who are aged 45+ struggle coming to terms with Instagram.  

So, I've recently taken the plunge and invited my eldest son to join me in a quest to grow Taylor Comms Instagram followers and engagement and we're doing pretty well.  We've just passed the 300 follower mark and growing steadily.  

Instagram is a perfect platform for sharing image and video content and through stories followers can really engage with your business. 

I've pulled together some top tips on how to use Instagram for business which I hope will help you maximise your account.  

1. Create an Amazing Profile
Pick a username that is searchable and strongly associated with your brand Use your logo as your image
Add your company name to your profile
Clearly describe what you do
Use your website box to share links to important things like a recent blog, a video on YouTube, your website etc
Create themes that you use across your Posts and Stories that is recognisable and aligns with your brand

2. Use Hashtags to drive conversation
Look at the hashtags others use to describe your business
Create your own hashtag so people can tag you in their posts and include your keywords a hashtags
Search for related hashtags and use these in your posts
Research hashtags competitors and peers are using and are getting good engagement with
Use a variety of hashtags to reach different communities

3. Stories -v- Posts
Use Stories to share short pieces of content (only last for 24 hours)
Stories are more casual and great for video content as visitors listen with the sound on 
Stories are great for engagement
Posts should be used as your 'official' brand aligned content. They stay on your profile forever
Posts should be used for 'planned' content

4. Grow Your Followers
Target pages similar to yours
Interact with those who like and comment on your posts
Search and find related hashtags
Avoid hashtags with more than 50k followers or your content will get lost!

5. Don't cross-post across your social channels
Your customers are different on each platform so engage and talk to them differently.   Caption length, image formatting and language can differ from platform to platform and tags may not work.  

6. Schedule your content
Scheduling posts will save you time and creates consistency across your Posts and Stories
You can schedule for the optimum time to engage your followers
Scheduling allows you to manage your hashtags
Tools to consider include Later, Hootsuite, Buffer and Creator Studio


I hope you find these tips useful.  If you would like more top tips, please follow TaylorComms on Instagram. #taylorcomms.